Even before we found out “everything is awesome” in The LEGO Movie, LEGO movie stuff was pretty “awesome” on the internet. The LEGO video games made new fans, and reimagined posters using the construction toys are fairly common place. Huge trailers are regularly adapted into stop motion LEGO versions. Even so, those adaptations are usually for “blockbuster” cinema, big summer and superhero movies.

Now the gang over at Old Red Jalopy have remade the posters for all 9 Oscar nominees for Best Picture with LEGO. It makes sense for some, like Gravity, but 12 Years A Slave? Nebraska? The fricking Dallas Buyers Club in LEGO? Check them out below. Read More »

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By this point in the awards race, it’s usually pretty clear who the frontrunners are. Most of the guilds have already thrown their support behind a few favorite films, which typically then go on to fare well at the Academy Awards. Nevertheless, there were a couple of mild surprises when the WGA announced its 2014 Writers Guild Award winners this weekend.

In the original screenplay category, Spike Jonze beat out the likes of David O. Russell and Woody Allen to pick up a prize for Her. That bodes well for Jonze on Oscar night, as the list of Oscar nominees perfectly matched the list of WGA nominees this year. A more unexpected result is Billy Ray‘s adapted screenplay win for Captain Phillips, but that doesn’t really make him the Oscar favorite. He didn’t have to compete against 12 Years a Slave or Philomena, both of which were deemed ineligible for the WGAs. Hit the jump to see who else won in the film and TV categories.

Following SAG and the PGA, the Writers Guild of America has just unveiled its list of nominees for the 2014 nominees. For anyone who’s been watching the awards race, the list won’t contain many surprises. The WGA likes American Hustleand Dallas Buyers Club just as much as everyone else does. Additionally, several of the most notable absences can be chalked up to disqualifications. 12 Years a Slave, considered a favorite for the Best Picture Oscar, was deemed ineligible, as was Golden Globe nominee Philomena.

One that did qualify but failed to secure a nomination nonetheless was the Coens’ Inside Llewyn Davis, which similarly struck out with both SAG and the PGA. And one unexpected outcome was a nomination for Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor, which hasn’t come up in too many awards seasons conversations as of yet.

It’s been an amazing year for films, possibly the best one since I started writing/talking about film seriously back in 2007. Devindra and I had a spirited discussion of our top 10 films of the year, but for those who prefer a shorter, 9-minute long version of that podcast episode, you can find a video version of my top 10 films of 2013 after the jump.

In this episode (#255) of the /Filmcast, Dave and Devindra run down their top 10 films of 2013, discuss the movies they’re looking forward to in 2014, and argue about how terrible The Lone Ranger was, relatively speaking. Be sure to check out this piece by Scott Mendelson on his worst films of 2013.

You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. Also, like us on Facebook! Download or listen to the episode after the jump.Read More »

While most of the West Coast was still curled up in bed, Aziz Ansari, Zoe Saldana, and Olivia Wilde got up bright and early this morning to announce the nominees for the 71st annual Golden Globes.

12 Years a Slave and American Hustle led the film nominations, with an impressive seven each. The latter didn’t get nearly as much recognition at yesterday’s SAG awards announcement, but the former is crystallizing its status as the one to beat this year. Nebraska also came in strong with five nominations, while Captain Phillipsand Gravitypicked up four apiece.

Meanwhile, House of Cardsand Behind the Candelabratopped the list of TV nominees, with four nods each. Breaking Bad, if you were wondering, got three. On the comedy side, Parks and Recreation, Girls, and newcomer Brooklyn Nine-Nine picked up two each.

Read the full list (with announcements still in progress) after the jump.

If you haven’t seen Captain Phillips yet, buy a ticket for this weekend right now (we can wait). Aside from it being one of this year’s best films, its also becoming one of this year’s controversial movies.

Captain Phillips tells the true story of the hijacking of the ship Maersk Alabama, and how Captain Phillips heroically sacrificed himself to save his crew.

Of course like any Hollywood movie, the events are dramatized to make them more cinematic, but most of the facts in the film stay true to Phillips’ account of the story. The only problem is, Phillips wasn’t the only one there, and now his ship’s crew has come out publicly to dispute the events and even blame Phillips for the whole mess. Of course, the crew is currently in a lawsuit with Maersk Line and the Waterman Steamship Corp. for almost $50 million, alleging “willful, wanton and conscious disregard for their safety.” And yes, Phillips is a witness for the defense. So there may be other motives in these comments.

Yesterday director Paul Greengrass was on Reddit doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything) when he was confronted with the recent reports. What did Greengrass say in response? Find out after the jump.

At this point, there probably aren’t many people who expect a feature film to be a 100% accurate depiction of events, even when it proclaims that it is based on a true story. The idea of dramatic license is well-understood, but there’s always a related question: when does dramatic license steer a project too far away from reality?

It’s one thing to make a film based on disputed story accounts, as is the case with The Fifth Estate, which subject Julian Assange has disowned as “based on a deceitful book by someone who has a vendetta against me and my organisation [sic].” But is it another to remap events so broadly that they deviate wildly from fact, even if the intent behind the changes is good?

In Captain Phillips, Paul Greengrass and screenwriter Billy Ray, along with the cast and crew, use the story of the hijacking of the ship Maersk Alabama to tell a story about two men who represent different lives and cultures. It’s a great story, and it uses the story of Captain Phillips and the Maersk Alabama to raise very specific points and questions. But there’s one problem: some of the ship’s crew says the film doesn’t represent Phillips properly, and it paints a very incorrect picture of events. Read More »

Dave and Devindra are joined by Dan Trachtenberg to discuss what makes a genre film great, and also take another look at Gravity’s deceptively simple yet emotionally complex script. Also, Dan makes a shocking revelation about how many times he’s watched Kickboxer.